P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

Special Sauce:
1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon Chinese hot mustard
2 teaspoons water
1-3 teaspoons garlic and red chili paste

Stir-Fry Sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 cup rice noodles (fried maifun)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 chicken breast fillets
1 cup minced water chestnuts
2/3 cup canned straw mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove)
4-5 sliced iceberg lettuce, cups

If you don't already have fried rice stick noodles, I would start this recipe by preparing the noodles first. See "tidbit" below.

Sauce:
1. Make special sauce (for spooning over your lettuce wraps) by dissolving the sugar in the water in small bowl. Add next five ingredients to bowl and mix well. Put into the refrigerator.
2. Combine 2 tsp. water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well. Eventually you will add your desired measurement of Chinese mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over your lettuce wraps.
3. In the restaurant chain, skilled master craftsmen prepare the sauce at your table the same way, depending on your desired heat level.

Filling:
1. Bring 2 Tbs oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.
2. Saute the chicken breasts for 4-5 minutes per side or until done and remove from pan to cool.
3. Keep the oil in the pan and keep the pan hot.
4. As the chicken cools be sure your water chestnuts and mushrooms have been minced to about the size of small peas.
5. Prepare the stir-fry sauce by mixing soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in small bowl.
6. When you can handle the chicken, hack it up with a sharp knife so that no piece is bigger than a dime.
7. With the wok or pan still on high heat, add an additional Tbs. of vegetable oil
8. Add the chicken, garlic, water chestnuts, onions, and block mushrooms to the pan.
9. Add the stir-fry sauce to the pan and saute mixture for a couple of minutes then serve it onto a dish lined with a bed of fried rice noodles (maifun).
10. Serve the chicken with a side or lettuce cups.
11. Make these lettuce cups by slicing the top off a head of iceberg lettuce, right through the middle of the head.
12. Pull your lettuce cups off the outside of this slice.
13. Make your special sauce at the table by adding your desired number of mustard and chili sauce to the special blend: 1 tsp. mustard and chili sauce for mild, 2 tsp. each for medium and 3 tsp. of each for hot. Stir well.
14. Assemble lettuce wraps by spooning filling into a lettuce cup, adding special sauce over the top, folding it up like a taco.

*Tidbits: Follow the directions on the package for frying the maifun (rice stick noodles). Usually by pouring 2 inches of vegetable oil into a pan and heating to around 400 degrees. Add maifun a little at a time, and when it floats to the top remove it to a paper towel. (This is the funnest part of making the recipe. It is so much fun to watch the noodles pop like popcorn. You can make extra noodles and store them in a ziplock baggie to use later. It keeps really well. If the noodles don't start "popping" right away, you know that the oil isn't hot enough).

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